A mass extinction event occurred 200 million years ago at the end of the Triassic Period, which is considered one of the five worst extinction events since the Ezoogens, resulting in the disappearance of a large number of species. Recently, the Chinese and foreign scientific research team led by the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced that after years of studying a large number of fossil samples, they found that this biological mass extinction event did not bring heavy damage to the ecosystem, of which many of the widely distributed true fern plants at that time "escaped the disaster".
The scientific research team collected a large number of true fern plant fossils dating back about 200 million years from Sichuan, Hubei, Yunnan, Anhui and other places in China, and many fossils have completely preserved the leaves and details of the plants. Xu Yuanyuan, a doctoral student at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced, "Fossils can see the characteristics of sporangia very clearly, and the characteristics of sporangia are very important for our research system classification, as well as the reconstruction of the paleo-environment paleoclimate, and can also be compared with some living plants to make speculations about its evolutionary characteristics." ”
Through comparative data analysis, the scientific research team found 67 species of true ferns in 8 families and 16 genera in the Sichuan Basin alone. Of these, about 38 species disappeared at the turn of the Triassic and Jurassic periods, while 10 new species appeared. This shows that ferns did not have obvious mass extinction events at that time, but there was a significant phenomenon of plant population replacement. Dr. Lu Ning of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said: "The true fern plants found this time, its diversity distribution has a migration direction, from the southwest of the Sichuan Basin to the northeast, its center of diversity has been migrating, which proves that as long as they have a suitable living environment, it can survive, including at the end of the Triassic, the event of mass extinction, it can also survive." ”
True ferns have a long history of evolution and are one of the most diverse vascular plant groups in modern plants, which can help us understand the ecological environment and climate change. Wang Yongdong, a researcher at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: "The Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction 200 million years ago did not cause great damage to our terrestrial ecosystem, and the protection of biodiversity is also a very important issue that we care about, especially the human living environment, climate and ecology. ”
(Source: Jiangsu Radio and Television Rong Media News Center/ Lv Yingying Editor / Guozheng)
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